10 more questions Russian military pose to Ukraine, US over MH17 crash

Head of General Staff of the Armed Forces Lt. Gen. Andrey Kartopolov ( left) and chief of the Air Force Main Staff Lt. Gen. Igor Makushev ( right) at a media conference in Moscow, July 21 (RIA Novosti / Vadim Savitsky)

Russia has released military monitoring data, which shows Kiev military jets tracking the MH17 plane shortly before the crash - and posed yet another set of questions to Ukraine and the US over the circumstances of the tragedy.

Military officials –
chief of General Staff of the Armed Forces Lt. Gen. Andrey
Kartopolov and chief of the Air Force Main Staff Lt. Gen. Igor
Makushev - posed a number of questions to Kiev and Washington
concerning the possible causes of the catastrophe in Eastern
Ukraine that killed almost 300 people last Thursday.

1. Why did the MH17 plane leave the international corridor?

“Please note that the plane stayed within the corridor until it
reached Donetsk but then it deviated from the route to the
north,” said Kartopolov.

2. Was MH17 leaving the route a navigation mistake or was the
crew following instructions by Ukrainian air traffic controllers
in Dnepropetrovsk?

“The maximum deviation from the left border of the corridor was
14 km. Following that, we can see the plane maneuvering to return
to the corridor, yet the Malaysian crew did not get a chance to
complete the maneuver. At 17.20, the plane began to lose speed,
and at 17.23 it disappeared from Russian radars.”

3. Why was a large group of air defense systems deployed to the
militia-held area if the self-defense forces have no planes?

“As far as we know, the Ukrainian military had three or four air
defense battalions equipped with Buk-M1 SAM systems deployed in
the vicinity of Donetsk on the day of the crash. This system is
capable of hitting targets within the range of 35 km at the
altitude of up to 22 km.”

4. Why did Kiev deploy BUK missile systems on the edge of
militia-controlled zones directly before the tragedy?

“We have satellite photos of the places where Ukraine had its air
defense units deployed in the southeastern parts of the country.
The first three photos were made on July 14. The first photo
shows Buk launchers 8 km northwest of Lugansk. You can clearly
see a TELAR and two TELs. The second photo shows radars 5 km
north of Donetsk. You can see two TARs along with other equipment
and technical structures. The third photo shows air defense
systems north of Donetsk. You can clearly see a TELAR launcher
and about 60 military and auxiliary vehicles, tents for vehicles
and other structures.

“Here’s a photo of the same area made on July 17. Please note
that the launcher has disappeared. The fifth photo shows a
battery of Buk missiles at the village of Zaroshchenskoye 50 km
east of Donetsk and 8 km south of Shakhtyorsk on the morning of
the same day. The sixth photo shows the same area on July 18. As
you can see, the battery has left.”

5. On the day of the crash Kiev intensified Kupol-M1 9S18 radar
activity, key BUK system components. Why?

“Also, July 17 saw increased activity on the part of Ukraine’s
Kupol-M1 9S18 radars, which are part of the Buk system. Here on
this chart you see that there were seven radars operating on July
15, eight radars operating on July 16, and nine radars operating
on July 17 in the area. Then, starting with July 18, the
intensity of radar activities radically decreased, and now there
are no more than two or three radars operating a day. The reason
behind this is yet to be found.”

6. What was a military plane doing on the route intended for
civilian flights?

“There were three civilian planes in the area performing their
regular flights at this time. There was a flight from Copenhagen
to Singapore at 17:17, there was a flight from Paris to Taipei at
17:24, and then there was the flight from Amsterdam to Kuala
Lumpur.”

“Also, Russian monitoring systems registered that there was a
Ukrainian Air Force jet, probably Su-25, climbing and approaching
the Malaysian Boeing.”

“The Su-25 was 3-5 km away from the Malaysian plane. Su-25 is
capable of climbing to the altitude of 10,000 meters for a short
period of time. Its standard armament includes R60 air-to-air
missiles, which are capable of locking and hitting targets from
12 km and which are guaranteed to hit the target from the
distance of 5 km.”

7. Why was the military jet flying at so close to a passenger
plane?

“At 17:21’35, with [the Boeing’s] velocity having dropped to 200
kilometers per hour, a new mark detecting an airborne object
appears at the spot of the Boeing’s destruction. This new
airborne object was continuously detected for the duration of
four minutes by the radar stations Ust-Donetsk and Buturinskaya.
An air traffic controller requested the characteristics of the
new airborne object, but was unable to get any readings on its
parameters – most likely due to the fact that the new aircraft
was not equipped with a secondary surveillance radar transponder,
which is a distinctive feature of military aircraft,” said
Makushev.

“Detecting the new aircraft became possible as it started to
ascend. Further changes in the airborne object’s coordinates
suggest that it was hovering above the Boeing 777’s crash site,
monitoring of the situation.

“Ukrainian officials earlier claimed that there were no Ukrainian
military aircraft in the area of the crash that day. As you can
see, that is not true.”

8. Where did the launcher – from the video circulated by Western
media and showing a Buk system being moved allegedly from Ukraine
to Russia – come from? As the video was made on the territory
controlled by Kiev, where was the launcher being transported?

“I’d like to say that the information we have presented here is
based on objective and reliable data from various technical
systems – unlike the groundless accusations made against Russia,”
said Kartopolov.

&amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;gt; “For example,
media circulated a video supposedly showing a Buk system being
moved from Ukraine to Russia. This is clearly a fabrication. This
video was made in the town of Krasnoarmeisk, as evidenced by the
billboard you see in the background, advertising a car dealership
at 34 Dnepropetrovsk Street. Krasnoarmeisk has been controlled by
the Ukrainian military since May 11.”
&amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;gt;

“For example, media circulated a video supposedly showing a Buk
system being moved from Ukraine to Russia. This is clearly a
fabrication. This video was made in the town of Krasnoarmeisk, as
evidenced by the billboard you see in the background, advertising
a car dealership at 34 Dnepropetrovsk Street. Krasnoarmeysk has
been controlled by the Ukrainian military since May 11.”

9. Where is it right now? Why are some of the missiles missing on
the launcher? When was the last time a missile was launched from
it?

10. Why haven’t US officials revealed the evidence supporting
claims that the MH17 was shot down by a missile launched by the
militia?

“US officials claim they have satellite photographs proving the
Malaysian airliner was shot down by a missile launched by the
militia. But no one has seen these photographs so far. As far as
we know, there was indeed a US satellite flying over southeastern
Ukraine on July 17 from 17:06 to 17:21 Moscow time.

“This satellite is part of an experimental system designed to
track and monitor the launches of missiles of various ranges. If
our US colleagues have imagery from this satellite, they should
release it for the international community to examine it in
detail. This may be a coincidence, but the US satellite flew over
Ukraine at exactly the same time when the Malaysian airliner
crashed.”

This is not the first time Russia brings up questions on the plane crash. No
explanations have followed with Kiev insisting they have full
evidence of Russia being behind the attack, but so far only
releasing tapes.

The USA, putting the blame on the self-defense forces, has yet
refused to release any intelligence material. On Monday State
Department Deputy Spokesperson Marie Harf described Russia’s
statements as “propaganda and misinformation” - but when
reporters asked her whether Washington would be releasing their
intelligence and satellite data, Harf only replied "may
be." So far the US has been backing its statements by social
media and "common sense."